Mumbai: Leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday expressed strong displeasure over the delay in finalizing the seat-sharing agreement between Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies for the upcoming assembly polls. State Congress leaders failed to put across their points strongly, which resulted in the Congress bagging a lower number of seats than expected, Gandhi said at the central election committee (CEC) meeting held at the Congress headquarters in New Delhi. Legislative party chief Balasaheb Thorat has been asked to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray again on Saturday to resolve the dispute.
In the CEC meeting headed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Gandhi expressed displeasure over seat-sharing negotiations in Maharashtra, said a senior leader who attended the meeting.
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“He was upset with the state leadership as the party is not only losing more seats to allies, but also losing those seats which we are sure of winning,” the Congress leader told HT, requesting anonymity. Gandhi was similarly vexed with the party’s Jharkhand leadership as well, he added.
Both the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) are at loggerheads over several seats within Mumbai and in the Vidarbha region, including Byculla, Versova, Nagpur South, Ramtek, and Dhamangaon Railway.
While some reports suggested that Gandhi left the CEC meeting midway, an All India Congress Committee (AICC) office-bearer clarified that he received a phone call during the meeting, after which he apprised the party president and left.
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In the post-meeting media address, state Congress president Nana Patole admitted to the dressing down indirectly. “The mess between the three parties over seat sharing was explained to him and he was satisfied,” Patole said. The Congress should have received more seats on the basis of merit, especially in Vidarbha, Marathwada, western Maharashtra, north Maharashtra and Mumbai, he added, hinting that they were all unhappy with the seat-sharing negotiations in the state.
Gandhi’s tirade against the state leadership came two days after the three main MVA partners – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – declared that they would contest 85 seats each, while a decision on the remaining 33 seats would be taken soon. .
The Congress expects to win the maximum number of seats among the MVA partners owing to its stellar performance in the Lok Sabha elections, when it won 13 of 17 seats it contested.
